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I met up with an old mate of mine Marco here in Detroit ..... he is an emergency response expert .... medical and technical in terms of buildings things like action to repair hurricane damage ...... in fact I met him while we were both working in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrrina ...... we talked about being on the road ..... he like me was mostly on the road especially in the past ........

I am still here in Detroit …… I heard this song while working …… ‘ Hero’ by ‘Family of The Year’ …….

I remembered I last heard it while I was walking in Luxembourg ….. it was hauntingly drifting out of a window in an ancient quarter of an old European city …… I was walking in the street ..... I just stopped to listen …. because it jolted me back ….. Suddenly I was remembering a previous Spring time back when I had first heard it …… in America ….. at that time I heard it over and over again …. As I drove in the Beast Car on that one ‘walk-about’ trip through 27 US States …… The song was repeat ‘power playing' on many radio stations that I listened to as I rolled on that 8000 mile trip ………. it became for me the kind of unofficial theme song of the trip ……

You know how music sometimes just speaks to you ….. directly ….. not bothering with the particular of intellect ….. just speaking to you I guess on an emotional level …… This song had something emotive for me …… somehow this song …… for me at that time at least …… kind of encapsulated both the sort of attractiveness and the sort of loneliness of reportage photography ……. that 8000 mile photographic journey through the USA in the bright red Mustang ….. who would not want to do that? All the sights and happenings …. all the people? But of course there is the element of loneliness that comes with just rolling ………. with all those motels and empty diners ……. and all that road……

There is quite often an element of loneliness ……. Or at least of just being alone …… when I am flying off on stories all over the world …… unless I take crew ……. assistants …… writers ……. etc …. Then it can be a really fun team ……. And it can often be fun working with the new people I meet on the stories …… But there can often be an element of loneliness …… or like I say of just being alone …….. that comes alongside the privilege and glamour of discovery …. of travel and momentum …… sometimes I am alone facing quite risky situations that come in the realm of photojournalism …….. all of this has its own attractions and kind of glamour that can appeal to some ……. but ultimately I am always rolling ….. often facing challenges completely alone ………..

I love being a photojournalist ……. a reportage photographer …….. I love to roll …… I want to travel ….. to go and see things for myself …… make the stories …… but of course I miss my family …….. my friends ……… my dog :-))) ……. And yet I am still addicted to rolling ……….. and being the reportage artist …. making work that is important or telling ……

Because I looked up the song ‘ Hero’ by ‘Family of The Year’ on the net …… I saw the official video for the first time …… it was strikingly perfect ….. exactly the video I would have made :-)) …… but instead of bull riding cowboy …… I might have put in the international photojournalist ….. hehehehe …. :-))) ……. taking his pain killers for his bad dreams …. bad back and and shrapnel wounds ……..

The bull rider of course he has all the glamour of performing his incredible feats on the rodeo circuit …….. but ultimately at what cost ? …… He is not wealthy he could be badly injured at any moment …… Surely it can never be worth it? …….. he is a once a month visiting dad type …… He needs his pain killers and is at the end of the video is alone in his trailer …… And yet he is still choosing to be the rodeo guy …… and is defined by his ability and drive to keep being that bull riding cowboy ……. by anyones standards, probably even his own …… its a pretty crazy thing to do …….. The Bull rider sort of puts me in mind of the photojournalist …. on some levels it has its attractions..... but in a way its an equally crazy individual thing to do :-)))))) XXXXXXXXXX

Cheers Jez XXXXXXXXXX

www.jezblog.com

PS..... A slightly more up beat piece of music I also associate with rolling in the Beast car is this : Old Crow Medicine Show’ s Wagon Wheel :-)))))) XXXXXXXXX

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